Foxconn mulls manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, Noida

NEW DELHI: Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn is looking to set up two smartphone manufacturing plants, one each in Gujarat and Noida, besides, a small trial production plant in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.

“With booming smartphone sales, Foxconn is ready with its plans. On cards are two plants, one in Gujarat and the second in Noida,” a media report said quoting sources. Its plans also include manufacturing the Apple range of mobile handsets into India. Foxconn is the largest contract manufacturer for Apple.

The company had three plants on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway, which used to produce phones and components for Nokia but after the handset maker closed down its manufacturing facility in Chennai, Foxconn eventually shut down all the three plants. The company also plans to set up a ‘trial production’ factory in Sri City on the fringes of Chennai that would be used for production related R&D activities and new product development, sources told the publication.

“The planned capacity is massive, commensurate to the size of Indian market factoring in the strong growth in smart phones sales coupled with the future potential for these devices.” All these announcements for the factory will be made soon after the government’s ‘Make in India’ policy.

“While policy announcements of Make in India are not imperative for Foxconn’s investments for smart phone making plant, a favourable manufacturing policy will help greater commitment for future investments,” sources said.